Family and Friends

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Young Monarchist in Danger

In a grim follow-up to its recent executions of two other Iranian monarchists, the Islamic Republic of Iran has arrested 26-year-old Omid Dana, an admirer of the late Shah. Dana is reportedly now in danger of execution. A friend of Dana's eloquently pleads for his life, mentioning how Dana wore a symbol associated with the Iranian monarchy despite having been warned it might get him in trouble. I wonder how many monarchists comfortably ensconced in the West, myself included, would have the courage to do something so simple yet so absurdly dangerous. I hope the international community will do everything in its power to prevent yet another unjustified execution.

It's depressing but while I felt I needed to conclude my post with some sort of plea, I am honestly not sure what anyone outside Iran can do. The Iranian regime clearly despises the West and outsiders in general and therefore is likely to respond to any sort of pressure by simply digging in its heels even further. And like HIH Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, I am not convinced that invasion is the answer. Monarchists by definition are enemies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, even if they do not actively seek its violent overthrow, and so why would the regime respond favorably to pressure from self-proclaimed monarchists?

The Baha'i community is prosecuted in Iran, I'd say at least as much as the Monarchists. Baha'is are sentenced to death and executed.

The international Baha'i community tries to draw attention to this prosecution. I think, the more the outside world knows about this, the more likely it is that - at least some - Baha'i and/or Monarchists can be saved.

That's the Amnesty International (ai) attitude: Make the names of the imprisoned and executed people public. In ai's case, they often ask to write a postcard to the embassy. Thousands of people follow ai's appeal and sometimes they succeed. Silence would not rescue anyone.